Many internal combustion engines include turbochargers, or superchargers configured to force more air mass into an engine's intake manifold and combustion chamber by compressing intake air with a compressor driven by a turbine disposed to capture energy from the flow of the engine exhaust gas. However, compression may heat the intake air, leading to a reduction of the density of the charge air. It is known to use a charge air cooler (CAC) to compensate for heating caused by supercharging.
During low-load operation in humid and cooler climates, water vapor in the air may condense and store in the CAC. When the flow of intake air reaches a high enough velocity, condensed water may be stripped out of the CAC and ingested into the engine. If too much water is ingested into the engine too rapidly, the engine may misfire which may lead to engine degradation.
The inventors have recognized the above problems and identified various approaches to at least partially address them. In one example, the issues described above may be addressed by a system comprising a CAC with an adjacent bypass, where the bypass is thermally isolated from an air cooler of the CAC. A valve, configured to adjust air flow through one or more of the charge air cooler and the bypass, is pivotable about a shared wall between the air cooler and the bypass. In this way, the valve may route air to the bypass during high humidity and low ambient temperature conditions to mitigate condensate formation in the CAC.
As one example, the air cooler is located along a first path and the bypass is located along a second path parallel to the first path. A shared wall may be located between the first and second paths, where the shared wall is thermally insulated to prevent heat transfer between the two paths. The thermal insulation may be a vacuum element and/or a foam element. A valve configured to adjust an air flow to one or more of the first and second paths is rotatably coupled to the shared wall. In one example, the valve may move to first and second end positions in order to block the first path or second path respectively. The valve may be actuated based on, but is not limited to engine load, ambient temperature, and/or ambient conditions. In one example, the present disclosure may utilize the valve to close off portions of the air cooler during low engine air flow conditions and open the air cooler during high engine air flow conditions. In this way, engine efficiency may be maintained while mitigating condensate formation in the air cooler.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.